Paint by el numeros

I LOVE Paint by numbers, and now I commission you my beloved readers to love them too!

Fun Fact: Paint by numbers was the brain child of Dan Robbins in the early 1950's, an artist who remembered that DaVinci used to put numbers into his paintings so that his apprentices could help him finish his works of art.

So Robbins takes his idea to a major paint company and the rest is history! And guess who is hanging in more living rooms than any artist ever? That's right Dan Robbins + You... well not you, cuz we have too much to do with our busy lives than sit around for hours filling in blanks...

But thankfully for me and now you, (cuz you're gonna love them) our forefathers had the courtesy to spends hours upon hours filling them in for our enjoyment!

My Mom recalls when everyone was doing them and she thought they were terribly tacky. Luckily not everyone thought they were, cuz there's thousands upon thousands of them hanging around and they can be purchased for mere dollars! There are crazy people like me who have quite a few in their collection and some who will pay more than a few dollars for some of the more rare examples. But usually they can be found for around $10-$20 smackers...

So I've posted some of my collection for you to enjoy, and I hope now you will love them as I do, and if you still aren't convinced, that's fine, just next time you see one at a garage sale, pick it up for your old time friend, Cyndi ;)

Song writing woes

This is me like a gazillion years ago, when I thought everything needed and I do mean needed, to be pink.. but it's also me back when I'd sit down for 15 maybe 20 minutes and have an awesome song! Well at least I though it was... but then again maybe all the pink was going to my brain.So fast forward 30 years and here I am no real major trials in my life, no issues almost pushing me over the edge (by issues I mean no possibility of a budding romance to inspire gads of songs)
And I look pretty sad... What's my deal, I have another one where I look much more friendly but it doesn't have the awesome 1941 picture of surfer Jesus in the background... I don't even think long haired surfers were around back then... But I am a bit sad cuz the songs won't flow like they once did, like rays of light flowing from my finger tips! And I'm so frustrated! I think I over think everything and I'm so concerned with thee perfect melody building into the perfect chorus with the perfect words that I've hindered the creative process! HELP! How do I get back to being simple again??



I feel like I have tons of good material, you know the Bible and stuff and all I've been set free from I just need my flow back... Any writers out there with any suggestions??? Send help or I might end up looking permanently like this!

BTW: Emmy took this and she thinks it's awesome...

Fruit Salad Frenzy!

I triple dog dare you to try my fruit salad recipe... go ahead try it! OK enough bullying, but seriously try this and you will thank me. I don't know why the secret ingredient in my fruit salad makes it so magical but it does...

So little known fact about me, I have a fruit stand in front of my house! What you don't believe me?? It's too late for photos tonight, but you'll see, it's true... and right now, it's filled with the juciest, sweetest most wonderful oranges you've ever eaten . Don't be too jealous, since it's inception I think we've made a whopping $32... nothing we could live off of, but we can make a really good fruit salad from it's proceeds, so check it out!
Don't worry there's not a tutorial on how to slice and dice your fruit below, I'm sure you're competient enough to figure that one out on your own, but there are a few things we need to discuss!


For instance, you can make this fruit salad with whatever you have hanging around in your fridge, like I did, BUT and that's a big BUT, you must have an orange, at least one!


So get your fruits ready for the choppin and place all but your orange in zee bowl.
I used some pineapple, strawberries, blackberries, 1 banana (cuz it was all I had) and 2 oranges... I just kept adding until I had reached the capacity of the bowl, be creative there's no rules with this one, oh except for the rule about the orange...
(I really like making this with blueberries and kiwi fruit too)
Take your orange and your zester, and get them well aquainted! Add the zest of one orange to your bowl of diced fruit...


Now cut your orange that you zested in half and add the juice of just half of it if your orange is really juicy like mine, I'm not bragging it's just really juicy and really delicious, seriously! But if it's not as juicy you can use the whole thing...
.
Now add 1-2 tbsp. of honey depending on how sweet you like it... I used 2 cuz I like it sweet!

Now for the magical mystery ingredient!!! Bom bada bom ba badda da bom! Nutmeg, yep that's right... I know that this might be bringing up some trust issues for some of you, but I promise I won't let you down, you can trust me, this will make your salad sing!
I don't have pre-ground nutmeg so I dusted the top of my fruit salad until I could see a little bit covering the whole top... my educated guess was 1/2 teaspoon, but if that scares you, start with a 1/4 add a little more if you don't sense it's presence there making you swoon! Now mix it all up real good... THEN...

Now comes the really hard part, let it sit for 30 min. before you serve... Go catch up on some you time, go read your kid a story, floss your teeth, or go google how big the largest invertebrate to ever be found is... just walk away and let it sit, you'll thank me... cuz all it's juicy goodness is coming out and it's guaranteed to make it's recipents face look like this! OK maybe not as cute, but definately worth the wait!

There's purpose in the pain

Why is it that the moment trails begin I forget everything I've learned that 's gotten me this far... it's like the pain or frustrations somehow block out that really important part of my brain that could reassure me that every thing's gonna be OK and there is a purpose in all this ...

Some of my friends have mildly accused me of living a charmed life, it's true I have never lost a relative that's really close to me, I've never really experienced any hardship due to financial woes or real sickness and for the most part my husband and I kinda like each other... So we've established that I don't have the market cornered on suffering but they say that suffering is relative, so in my small puny way I can understand what it's like to struggle. And for the last couple of months I can say a little better I know what it's like to struggle.
Since having my sweet dream of a little boy, I've been struggling with my health, and more than anything, it's been messing with my head. I really didn't realize how much I took my health for granted until this all went down...

But that's not really the point of this post... the point is, where do we go when the pain or frustrations start?

For a lot of us it's worry for others it's anger, I'm sure there's a whole host of emotions that we face when we feel out of control of our circumstances... but thankfulness is not one that quickly comes to mind.

For years, when these trails rear their ugly heads, an old stand by of mine has been Hebrews 10. Here the author reminds the recipients of this letter how they went through great suffering in the first days after they were illuminated... he says, "hey you've gotten through rougher patches before, you just have need of endurance, that's why you're going through this." He encourages them to not cast away their confidence in God, because in their confidence they will find great reward. And isn't that true, have you ever taken the high road? Have you ever buckled down and just decided to have a good attitude and trust that good is gonna come out of your difficult circumstance? I'd love to hear your story and what you gained from your positive stance!
I'm sounding like the opposite of Debbie Downer here... we could call me "Polly Positive" but it is bigger than that, I hope this doesn't sound like a glorified pep talk.
I really do believe that there is a valuable spiritual discipline here that a lot of us forget about when the trouble starts...

1Peter 1 reminds us that we only are grieved by trails if we need them... they prove our faith, they show us what we really believe, and what is it that I believe when I'm going through tough times? If I'm really honest, it's that I'm the master of my destiny and I need to get control of the situation and quick... and I can have a real stinky attitude that can sound like this... "seriously! this is so inconvient, how am I gonna write 10 blog posts a day, make my cake pops, sew 15 slings and be the perfectly attentive mom now that I have to deal with this!"

So lately I've been trying to skip that step and go straight to realizing that I am a toothless tiger in the face of roaring trials and simply just give thanks! This time I'm thankful that God is taking me to a new level of discipline. And that is something I know I would never achieve with out the help of difficult circumstances! Seriously I have to laugh that God has figured out a way to "trick" me into being disciplined! I love Him for that! I love the fruit of being disciplined just not the general discomfort it requires...So I can recognize that this trial is doing some work for me that I might not otherwise be able to to accomplish, so for that I can give thanks!

On a more serious note 1st Thessalonians 5:18 tells us that the will of God for our lives is that we give thanks in everything! And yes, that does mean everything... even when our husband might leave, when our dog might die, when the lump is diagnosed malignant, or when we're losing it all... give thanks!
Please don't misunderstand me, I really don't mean to trivialize anyone's pain, if anything I mean to validate it! There is purpose in the pain, I just pray I can encourage you to grasp it's full potential...

I remember a time about 9 years ago when I had just given my life back to the Lord and I was sooooo broken! Oh man, we're talkin' ugly broken, nose swollen, snotty sobbin', mascara runnin' broken! I can just remember falling on my knees and saying thank you Lord, I don't understand why you're allowing this but I'm gonna say thank you just the same... Woah! Overwhelming peace like I've never experienced before... still ugly broken, but I had peace. And that's what God promises us! A peace that surpasses our understanding . And I can understand it now, I'm so thankful I'm not that same girl I was 9 years ago, but at the time the pain was so deep, so real I couldn't understand why I had to go through it.

So the bottom line.......... don't be discouraged, don't let those thoughts of worry or anger get out of control... be like David and preach to your soul, remind yourself of God's goodness and give thanks for whatever it is...
2nd Corinthians reminds us that our light affliction is only momentary and working out for us something far greater than we could ever imagine! Remember we're just passing through, this is not our home! Let's give thanks and give purpose to our pain!

And please, let me know if I can pray for you if you're going through a difficult time and if you have a story of giving thanks through hard circumstances please feel free to share!

Grace and Peace!

Isn't she lovely! (an owl doll tutorial)

So I love photo tutorials! Photo tutorials are my new favorite thing on the internet, it's amazing to me that thru blogs and people's websites how much is accesable to us! so I decided I was gonna do my very own!

I have a thing for owls that started when I was 4... you say how do you know, how can you remember so far back??? Well my grandpa died when I was 5 and I know he used to scold me for fiddling with his AWESOME owl clock with bakelite eyes that told the time... kinda creepy though when it's 9:25... so I know owls are kinda trendy right now, so why not join in, cuz I love to be trendy!!! and make a cute little owl doll for my girlfriend's daughter's birthday! And lucky you are the benefactors of this labor of love as well... So if sewing isn't your thing feel free to skip on down to another post, or maybe you'll see how incredibly easy this is and you'll want to learn and start making some of your very own crafty creations!

Here we go!
You will need:

hoaky owl drawing for pseudo pattern (done on 8x11 paper)
4 -8x11 pieces of felt
2 coordinating pieces of fabric, or not if you're feeling kinda crazy!
Some frilly ribbon or lace
fiber-fill or batting

Now get the two colors of felt that you want for the front and back and begin to cut out the pieces of your owl using your pattern, feel free to cut a little extra room for your seam-allowance and don't feel like it has to be perfect, just go for the general shape...

Now take your pattern and cut out the wings, as you can see here, I wanted mine a little bigger than what I had drawn so I cut the wings a bit bigger
Now pin your patterns wings to your fabric of choice and cut around and now get your coordinating fabric and cut out the piece that you'll use for the chest feathers...

Note: cut the chest feathers part bigger on the sides so that it can sit underneath the wings and get sewn down when you get to that part (see below)

Now get the scraps from the color you used on the back side of your owl and pin the top of your chest feather pattern and cut the arch at the top then scallop the bottom edge (see below,) remembering to keep it a bit wider than what will show, so that you will catch it when you sew your wings down
Then cut your coordinating piece of frilly ribbon or lace... then lather, rinse, repeat... Ok skip the later and the rinse, but repeat until you have 4 rows of scalloped felt and frilly ribbon...

Ok so after you have that all layed out, it's time to give her some really cute big eyes... I really liked how having big round perfect circles looked, so I used the bottom of my cup to make an imprint to see if that was big enough for me then I traced that size onto a piece of paper

So I did the same as before, I pinned my pattern to my white felt and cut out my circle, then I did the same with the black then later went back and cut the black slightly smaller than the white... I did the same with the nose... I started out here with two small triangles for the eye sparkle, but decided that I like another set of circles instead in the end.

Now it's time to sew!!!

Deconstruct your owl and set your pieces all aside...
We'll begin with the chest feather pieces and the fabric that sits underneath
Pin your fabric to your owl and sew it down, then begin to sew your scalloped felt at the top followed by your frilly ribbon...

leaving a bit of space so that your fabric shows thru a little bit...

Now pin your wings onto your owl, and begin to sew them down
Note: when you pin the wings it's most important that the wings cover the sides of the chest feathers

I started to go around just once, but then I thought hmmmm if I keep going it's gonna look even more feathery... so I just sewed around and around and around following the pattern of the wing

Now it's time to change your thread out, as you sew your eyes down you'll want white to match... Sew down the first part of your eyes... the whites and if you're really lazy like me and hate changing out the thread more times than absolutely necessary, proceed to sew down the eye sparkle before the blacks of the eyes...

Time to change out the thread to black and sew down the blacks of your owlys eyes...

Then one more time for her little nose... (Note: I cheated here, since I didn't have orange felt, I used white and an orange sharpie!!, I'm so ghetto!)

Now I did a little flower detail on the back of the owl, which it totally optional and since I have 10 million photos on here already, use your imagination and maybe I'll show you one at the end if you just have to know! If you do put a detail on the back, make sure that you have the "right" side out so that when you sew your doll together your sides match!

Now it's time to sew our little owl together! This is very simple... put the "right" sides or the sides that you want to show together, so that they're not showing and proceed to sew leaving a small gap at the bottom to turn right side out and for stuffing... When you have finished sewing her together trim any excess felt off of the edges...

Now turn your little gal "right" side out

and introduce her to her new best friend mr. stuffy stuff... and you guessed it stuff her tight!

(Note: her nose is missing here because I was going to use a cute vintage button, but didn't end up liking how it looked, your nose should be attached at this point)

After you have gotten her as full as you possibly can, paying close attention to her little ears, and getting out all dents and puckers, sew together your hole using a needle and thread...
Guess what! You did it! Or if you're crazy like me, you can keep going... what can I say, I love details!

Sooooo I gave her a cute barrett, by cutting out 2 contrasting colors of felt into the shape of a flower, then sewing on a button with thread detail around it with two loops of grosgain ribbon on the back... I just simply attached it to her little head with my needle and thread...

Lastly to make it special and make sure your lucky recipient will always remember you, I embroidered "To: Friend... Love: Emmy..." my little girl, who contributed by saying "oooohh cool!"

Well I hope you've had as much fun as I have had and I hope if you make one, you'll show me how yours turned out!

Isn't it cool to make something handmade to give to someone special! It used to be that storebought was special, but now it's so much more rare to get that special handmade treat!

Have fun!

The Sewing Side of Me...

So for a while now I've had my own micro-business where I make baby slings and sometimes crafty stuff, what that is depends on the time of year and how crafty I'm feeling... I didn't really start my blog to sell my stuff, but I figured it is a part of my love for sewing and vintage stuff so if you'd like to check out my slings and some of my stuff click HERE

R-R-Road Trip!

So we returned realllllly early Monday morning from our family road trip. Thus why I have not posted in eons. And oh how I've missed you blog! But it has taken me a full week to recover before any serious internet activity could take place! We did 6 states in one day people! With a not even 3 month old, are you serious! But on the up side of the trip we aquired some new paint by numbers for our collection, and I decided I want everyone else to love them as much as I do, so look out for that next post, as I'm sure you will all soon love them as I do, well maybe not, but I can try...
But whilst we we're in Colorado we went on a steam locomotive, one of the highlights of our trip!But let me tell you it was also very educational... did you realize that our relatives used to cross the country at a whopping 12 miles an hour!!! I couldn't believe how slow it was, after all the iron horse was supposed to be the thing that revolutionized travel! 12 miles an hour! We managed to make 26 miles in 2 1/2 hours going one way... and since we had soooo much time to discuss how slow we were going, my cute Kiwi pointed out that a days ride on a horse was 30 miles, so 26 miles in 2 and a half hours would have rocked great-grandma Cora's socks off! Man no wonder we're so A.D.D. ... what used to take our ancestors days or months, we can accomplish in hours. And what do we do with all that free time... don't even get me started. No wonder they didn't have credit card debt, it would've taken them 2 days with a pack mule to get to the mall and back. Why bother!
Anyways road trips are cool, when your kids are at least a year old... At least they're educational.

CAKE POPS!!!

Since I need another distraction in my life right now... I bring you my latest... cake pops!


On one of my new favorite blogs a gal who calls herself Bakerella has innovated even more on the whole cupcake craze! Just when we thought couldn't get any crazier she offers these delectable little bites that are oh so cute! Click here to see some of her great ideas!



Because I have to be somewhat original to feel OK about myself I changed things up just a little bit... and made it only slightly more fattening :



So if you like it simple go to her site and get the recipe, but if you wanna make it fudgy delicious and decadently delightful... throw caution to the wind and proceed below ;)

Get one package devils food cake or similar chocolaty cake mix and make per instructions on back in a regular half-sheet or as us lame-mans call it a cookie sheet.



After cake has cooled (or not if you're impatient like me,) break cake up into small pieces into your stand mixer or large bowl. Pour ganache (recipe below) over the cake pieces and mix on low until fudgy.


For the ganache
8 ounces chocolate chips
1/2 cup cream
- heat cream on medium high and bring to a boil, remove immediately and pour over chocolate chips
allow to sit for a minute then begin to whisk until smooth.

NOTE: If you don't have a stand mixer and wanna feel really "little house on the prairie" you could mix this by hand, it will just take you a lot longer and make your forearms large like the ladies in Leonardo's paintings...


Ok then take your oh so easy but amazingly delicious cakey fudge stuff (I don't really know what else to call it) and shape into little balls, about the size of a golf ball, maybe a little smaller.
Then chill for 30 min in the fridge or 10 in the freezer on a cookie sheet if you're impatient like me...


As you're waiting get your chocolate and candy melts that you want to use ready.


Melt them in 30 second increments in your microwave until they're nice and smooth.


Then take your cakey fudge balls out of the fridge and get a mini cookie cutter ready. Bakerella likes to use a flower shaped one but I found just the right size round one attached to a bird house shaped cookie cutter that I prefer to use.
Now press your cookie cutter over the cake ball and allow the excess to spill over the top...


Smush the top of the cake ball over the sides of the cookie cutter to get that exaggerated cupcake shape... now push out your cuppycake from the cutter and set aside.



Once you have completed 3 or 4 begin the dipping faze... I find that if I work in small batches it allows for just the right amount of cooling time for the chocolate to set.



Now dip the bottom of your cupcakes into your melted chocolate, making sure to go right under the edge of your cupcake top.


Place your freshly dipped cupcake top down and then insert your lollipop stick into the bottom of your cupcake, going about half way through. Be careful not to get your fudgy chocolaty hands on your nice white lollipop stick... woops :


Allow time to set before proceeding to the topping.


After chocolate has set dip the top into your already melted candy melts, allowing the candy to drip right down to the edge of the chocolate. Then while still soft, decorate with sprinkles or sanding sugar and an M&M to top it off and give it that really cute cupcake look!


Set your cupcake pop into styrofoam or a flower frog to allow it to set...


And there you have one super cute toothsome treat!


There is a really great photo demo here if following along without photos proves to be a little bit challenging for you.
There's just so many possibilities! Bakerella has amazing cake pops right now for easter if you need a last minute project to make your weekend even busier!

ENJOY!

-Old Time Cyndi

My favorite way to start the morning!

If you're anything like me, life just doesn't begin with out a cup a joe! But my life has been significantly enhanced since ditching my crummy 'barista' drip coffee maker. Just before our camping trip up north last October, we considered bringing one of those enamel pots you set on the fire, you know to enhance the whole "little house on the praire feel". But after testing one out on a weekend trip and having either the weakest sauce you've ever seen or a mouth full of grounds... really attractive and by the way, very upsetting, considering my husband's and I's affection for coffee rivals our affection for each other, it's true! That's not to say we don't love each other alot, it just lets you know how much we love our coffee! So we had to think of something fast, and my cute Kiwi suddenly remembered how when we were missionaries and couldn't afford the amazing latte's they make in Australia we used a french press!

If you love coffee and you haven't tried one of these, do yourself a favor and raid your couch cusions for some change (these are really cheap) and enjoy what coffee is supposed to taste like!

Oh and while we're on the topic of coffee, I have one more bone to pick with you America, and really Starbucks! Week after week we visit you, like any good friend, always offering you our hard earned cash and what do you give us in exchange? A push button latte with sudds for foam??? I guess I only have myself to blame, I know better, I know what a latte should look like, taste like, why do go back in? I guess we've just been friends for too long and Kean is too far to drive...

When you get a proper latte in Australia or New Zealand this is what it looks like everytime!

beautiful dense foam that's sugary sweet, and you just look at it and it enhances your drinking experince... so don't waste your $3.80 every week (or for some of you every day) on that poor excuse for a latte and find a local spot that cares and will make your latte how it's supposed to be made!

Or like me, you can just give up on the idea of the perfect latte and just enjoy your 200 mg dose of caffeine right in the comfort of your own home.

For Penance, I offer Pavlova

So I'm repenting of my "spreads" sins, which I'm sure to still face the consequences for today at 12:15 when I publicly humiliate myself on the scale.

2 cups of butter!!! what was I thinking, there's only 3 of us, that's way too much butter to go around!

So I'm offering something much lighter and less guilt inducing... Pavlova!

There is much to be said about Pavlova, almost every time it's brought up in our home, the conversation about how Australia stole it from New Zealand ensues. It's even mentioned Here on Wikipedia... Man they've got issues! It's just meringue people!

But with that said, it's still worth all the discussion... it's light, marshmallowy, crunchy and super delicious. And with the weather warming up it would be perfect for a spring luncheon or desert on the front porch, or for a mid-morning snack... I would never, yes I would.... I know I have issues...

Ok soooo, the most important thing about making Pavlova, so I'm told, is how high you can get your Pav to stay, (yeah they call it Pav, they shorten everything) and how thin the outside "crust" is....

It's funny, if you have a New Zealand or Australian relative you want to impress, make Pavlova... They're guaranteed to tell you how hard it is to make and how impressed they are at your efforts... And really I don't think it's very hard to put your stand mixer on for 10 minutes then plop it out on a cookie sheet, but maybe I'm missing some crucial step where you sit on the eggs for a day to get them to the right temperature... I dunno...

So anyways here's the recipe, if you make it, let me know how it goes for you... If you got it to stay up without the help of stabilizers or if you buckled under all the "Perfect Pavloa" pressure and used cream of tartar... either way, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

INGREDIENTS

*4 egg whites (room temperature)
*1½ cup super fine sugar (aka baker's sugar)
*1½ teaspoon white vinegar
*1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
*1 ¼ cup heavy cream
*1 lb. strawberries, hulled and sliced
*confection sugar, to serve

Preheat oven to 350F.
Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites and a pinch of sea salt until soft peaks form,
then, with the motor running, gradually add superfine sugar and beat until sugar is incorporated, then add vinegar and vanilla and beat until combined.
Or if you're crazy like me for 10 minutes.

Spoon onto a parchment paper-lined oven tray (or use silpat) and form into a 8-9 inch round.
I use a pencil and trace a dinner sized plate onto the parchment to determine where I'm going to place the Pav...
Reduce oven to 300F and bake for 1½ hours. Turn off oven and, leaving door ajar, stand pavlova in oven for at least 2 hours (but preferably overnight) to cool.

In a large bowl, whisk cream until soft peaks form, spread over pavlova and scatter with strawberries.
Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.

And when I say immediately, I mean some time soon:)

Enjoy!

-Old Time Cyndi